by Tim Arnold, photo by Jayne Drooger
Saturday’s show at the 29th annual Tampa Bay Blues Festival proved once again why this event has become the very corner stone of rhythm and blues music in southern Florida and beyond. Some 5,000 people gathered in Vinoy Park to see the likes of JJ Grey and Selwyn Birchwood, Curtis Salgado and Ruthie Foster and Walter Trout. JJ Grey & Mofro were the closers. In the dark of an early night with a full moon rising, a wailing sound from Grey’s harp announces his presence, and a pin-sharp overhead spotlight follows him to the front of the stage. His harp solo is moving and grooving and establishes a sky-high standard for his set to follow. And they blow way past it. “Tame a Wild One” celebrates our relationships with women. And then “On Top of the World” is punctuated with his “beverage of choice,” his horn section – a tenor sax and two trumpets. They are part of an 11-piece band! JJ’s vocals are way beyond the blues, and the rich sound they produce is damn-near orchestral. He picks up his guitar for “St. John’s River” and showcases a rich, personal vocal about the bigger river, “the river of life, and everything in it.” He tells us later he wrote it “trying to make sense of the nonsense I call my life … only this river can save me from myself.” There’s “Rooster.” And then “Right Down to the Bone,” “squeeze it ladies,” he cackles.
JJ’s latest album, Olustee, is his 11th – and the first one in nine years. “Grey has been releasing deeply moving, masterfully written, funkified rock and front porch, Southern soul music. …With his new album, Grey is back, singing his personal stories with universal themes of redemption, rebirth, hard luck and inner peace.” (TB Blues Fest program). He’s a multi-talented musician and artist (he designed all of his album covers), a lot of his songs have appeared in films and television shows. He brings all of his passion and talent to close out the show Saturday night. Curtis Salgado is one of those genuine legends, been at the heart and soul of the blues since the mid ‘70’s. Back in 1977 he met John Belushi, and helped Belushi create his Blues Brothers character, “Joliet Jake,” based on Curtis. And then he helped Danny Ackroyd with his harp licks. True story. They remained friends until Belushi’s fatal overdose in 1982. They dedicated their movie, “The Blues Brothers,” to Curtis Salgado.
Accomplished professionally by any measure, but way beyond that: Salgado’s wrestled his own demons, as he tells us from the stage, and he’s winning: his abuse of alcohol and drugs led to a bout with cancer and a liver transplant. A few years later he battled lung cancer, twice. Eight years ago he underwent quadruple bi-pass surgery. He’s clean and sober since 1988 – something he has in common with more of these guys than you’d think. “The older I get, the longer I want to live,” he sings, and backs it up with his legendary harp. Along with “I Want an Older Woman” he makes sure we understand his comfort with where his life has taken him. And where he’s taken his life. And the fact that his band has to pull him back to their set list after he intro’s other songs a couple of times matters not, to him or us. So here comes some Elmo James to keep us plugged in. And “To the ladies: I was born all over the day I found you. I know a little bit about love.” And life.
His fans keep him talking and signing and posing for pictures at the merchandise tent way long after his set is over. I wait until last; he sees me coming and says “hey Tim.” “Got any energy left?” I ask him. “Not if I have to buy you a beer …” I hear. Next month he’s headed to Europe for an extended tour. “So how much you got left in the tank?” I ask him. “The tank of blues?” he asks, tapping his heart. “It’s full up man.” And I have no doubt this ageless hall-of-fame blues dude is here to stay. “A markable, contemporary bluesman … a powerhouse young guitarist and soulful vocalist. A major player … highly recommended,” is Rolling Stone’s description of Selwyn Birchwood. His latest album, “Old School” (Jayne Drooger, whose photos illustrate this story, shot all the photographs for this album),” showcases Selwyn’s songwriting against a rich canvas of upright bass and a sophisticated grand piano that harkens back to the early pioneers of blues music. For this gig he brings all of that heart and soul up to date with his award-winning band: Regi Oliver (sax – all of them), Donald “Huff” Wright on bass, Courtney “Big Love” Girlie (for real) on drums, and Mike Hensley, keys. They rocked a range of originals, including Don’t Call No Ambulance, from his first album with Bruce Iglauer at Alligator Records. It won a Blues Music Award for “Best New Artist Album,” even though he wasn’t exactly new …
If Selwyn ever runs out of the blues he can fall back on his MBA from the University of Tampa, cause like he says, “These days, it’s not good enough just to be a good player.” He may never find out. Selwyn Birchwood’s “electric swamp funkin’ blues” singing and guitar and lap steel playing set the stage for another emerging blues legend: Ruthie Foster, “The Queen of Soul.” A combination of … Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt, and like Bonnie, plays a bad-ass guitar. After numerous nominations she just won her first Grammy this year, for “Best Contemporary Blues Artist” for her album “Mileage.”
It could be Sister Rosetta Tharpe up there on stage, singin and playin and telling us stories like one she told an old love, “I love you – but you got to move. We love each other – but we need our space.” Ouch. And since then, she’s been “soul searchin ever since we been apart.” From gospel and blues to jazz, folk and soul, this girl has been there. Her mojo is grounded in her Texas roots, spiced by a tour in the US Navy and enriched by working in New York City. Back in College Station, Texas, to care for her mother, she worked as a camera operator and production assistant at a television station (Wikipedia). “Mileage … I’m out here chasing every dream I’ve dreamed … “Some days I’m runnin’ on fumes … “I’ve followed my heart …” “Mileage” is Ruthie’s 10th studio album, and embraces a full life of triumphs, losses and a musical road of life that took this “little Black girl with a guitar,” as she describes it, from singing gospel in back-road Texas churches to her Grammy-winning latest album. Ruthie brings the conversations from “Mileage” right up front on stage, sharing memories and experiences – some rewarding, some painful – with the audience. She reaches deep. And yeah, she brought this guy to tears a couple of times. Ruthie’s rich pipes and engaging personality bring a magic to the stage that grips the audience and does not let go. Nobody wants it to.
Walter Trout’s legend precedes him. He performed in his first Tampa Bay Blues fest 25 years ago. Years earlier he was a sideman for John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, Joe Tex and others. In the early ‘80’s he played lead guitar for Canned Heat and then for John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers – whom he dedicates tonight’s concert to. Trout took great pride in announcing that he’s been clean and sober for 39 years (two more years than Salgado), thanks to counseling from Mayall, and then shared a song he wrote about it, “Long Road to Heaven,” underscored with his wailing guitar. So here’s a guy who’s gig is between Curtis Salgado and JJ Guy, and all he does is lay down a toll bridge of a set that 5,000 people are ready to pay to hear. He blows the gate open with “Bring it on Home to Me,” his face contorting with expressions that look every bit like the incredible notes he squeezes from his Fender Stratocaster. “We Need a Little Courage” sets up his Mayall dedication. Then he devotes an original to his Mom, “I Saw Momma Cryin,” and tells another story about another life challenge for him. He overcame torturing addictions in the early ‘80’s. Then 11 years ago he’s flat on his back, suffering from liver cirrhosis, loses 100 pounds, can hardly breathe. Eight months in the hospital. While he’s there his mother encourages him to get the liver transplant he desperately needs, and the last thing he wants. But he agrees, a donor shows up, and his life is saved – thanks to his mother.
Then it’s “Red Sun.” “Sittin on top of a mountain, angels talkin’ to me.” And the band wails. During an extended jam, he introduces them: John Avila – a magnetic genius on bass who looks like he stepped out of a Cheech and Chong movie. He played with Oingo Boingo for years; Michael Leasure, who once played his drums for Edgar Winter; Richard Gerstein (TBear) on keys, who’s played for Crosby Stills & Nash and others; and Brett Smith-Daniels, British-Canadian singer/songwriter who’s played with musicians from the Rolling Stones, The Guess Who, Guns ‘N Roses, guitar. They all sang back-up. Trout is a child of the ‘60’s, and carries those political roots with him, right through his latest album, “Broken,” and right up on stage. “I feel young. I know I’m not. But in my head, I’m still 25, still wantin to get better and do something I haven’t done before. I have more to say.” He sure does. Walter Trout is a grateful human being, and shares all of it with us. Just a fabulous day that morphed into a more fabulous, and beautiful night. Chuck Ross founded it 29 years ago and there is no end in sight. Nor should there be.
